BOOK FAQS: *Will the book be sold internationally?* Yes, Escape Into Meaning should available for shipping to most places around the world where English-language books are sold. Amazon is your best bet, but local retailers can also order books from abroad (may just take a bit longer). I don’t have a full list of where it’s available, and I don’t control this in any way, so I’m sorry if you can’t get the hardcover where you live. *Will the book be translated into other languages?* Escape Into Meaning is only available in English for now. Translated versions usually don’t happen unless there are significant sales. If this book gets translated, that means something went really right, but we won’t know that for some time. If there are going to be translations, I will let you know as soon as I do. *Is there an audiobook, and do you read it?* Yes, there is an audiobook, and yes I read it (which was such a thrill to do). It is available on Audible here: adbl.co/3birfo9 And it’s also available from other platforms, all of which you can find at the Simon & Schuster master link: bit.ly/3cGnr0f *Will you be doing live events for Escape Into Meaning?* Yes! I will be doing 2 in-person events. One at The Strand in NYC. Tickets here: bit.ly/3OOAOJf And I will be doing another at The Grove Barnes & Noble in Los Angeles. Tickets here: bit.ly/3cSjPIG These will be the only live events I’ll be doing. I’m sorry if you don’t live near these cities - but I will be doing a livestream event that will be available for everyone. When I have the link and details for that, I will share it with you. I will update this as more questions come in. Thanks!
@@nicktrousers I feel like blade runner’s score is so under appreciated. It was so difficult for me to find a vinyl of the score that actually stayed true to the one in the film because of drama behind the scenes.
It's definitely a product of the 80s. Reaganomics, War On Drugs, Laissez Faire Capitalism, and... most importantly, the Gaming Crash in the U.S. followed by the massive technological boom of Japan.
Best line ever: “It’s too bad she won’t live, but then again who does.” Similar nuanced meaning to the biography about Jim Morrison entitled “No One Here Gets Out Alive”.
To me I see it as a continuation of Roy Batty's line. We kind of all just merge into nothingness after death. Our physical being was alive at some point the materialness of us means nothing now. We might as well have been some dog in the street. Bladerunner's main theme is about honoring life but cyberpunk worlds its just endless resource harvesting and consuming.
!! This really articulates why I love big neon-soaked megalopolises. I loved strolling around Shanghai at night. The skyscrapers and the lights and the enormous crowds made me feel insignificant, and for once I could just enjoy the moment, I could exist outside of my worries for the future and anxieties of the past. I simply exist, just a transient speck of the vast human existence, passing each other without a thought, here today, gone tomorrow. Thank you for this video.
I'm a bit confused by the traces of the romantic Sublime here, applied on the one hand to interstellar Nature (disappearing into the enormity of the universe) but on the other into hyper-Culture, the late-capitalist city. Part of what is NOT supposed to be comforting about cyberpunk is that it is all the more transparently about our present-- it's a future in which little is futuristic, things are falling apart, there is a slow cascade into apocalypse. To feel comforted by any sequence in Blade Runner, you have to forget that the replicants are future slaves. Exploitation and domination have continued as the ways of future men and machines. Nope, no comfort there, thanks.
@@SuperRobertoClemente I don't think people subconsciously forget that the people in Blade Runner live mostly terrible lives. We might get lost in the ethereal soundtrack and cinematography of a neon metropolis, but other than for 'simple' escapism I never hear people say they wish to live in that world. That it's realistic, but far away (sort of, I hope) makes it comforting. Add that we find commonality in people like Deckard & Rachel, dealing with the same struggles as us, and we have a perfect few hours of dreaming. Do you just not find cyberpunk comforting, or are we not looking into the movie(s) deep enough? What emotions does Blade Runner evoke for you?
Exactly I have always felt drawn to a cyberpunk world. maybe it’s the neon? Maybe it’s the feeling of getting lost looking at the vast city scape? Maybe it’s the incomprehensible technology that does wonders not only for the eye but the brain? Or maybe it’s the feeling of being involved in a world we lust for but won’t get to see. But anyways yeah I’ve always felt a cosy and warmth towards this genre that I could never describe and your right he’s just gone and done it
This little video hit me harder than a lot of things in recent memory. "The fight's over, and we lost." It's a sublime mix of despair and hope; there's no need to struggle anymore. I want to explore a world where the struggle isn't over, even if "we've" lost. Something like the recovery from the fallout, or maybe the (attempted) aversion of the true, final fallout just before it's due.
The speech could seem trite but with Rutger Hauer's delivery and expressions sort of being perfect it gets elevated to something we still mention today.
@@JohnGottschalk indeed. 100%. I think Ridley was probably tripping over himself when Rutger simply came out with that in total perfection. And then “Too bad she won’t live, but then again who does” encapsulates the whole essence of that moment and life itself bringing closure and acceptance to everything, both mortal and immortal.
@@hRt42kuo7jTtmk14 Rutger said he had something he wanted to do. As improvisation. They were over schedule and didn’t have much time. He had to convince Ridley for one more take. He said fine. He gave the speech, tenderly and with passion. It was a perfect moment. Beautiful. Then Ridley said: Cut! Ok next one, move on! It’s one of those things, you trust the people around you. You trust their talent and their vision of things to contribute to your own. But I find funny how at the time he just wanted to shoot the movie. I imagine his face in the editing room now realizing what he had. All the joy lacking in filming comes to you in the editing room.
Not only the fact that Rutger wrote that, but the way in which he delivered it created an indelible moment that will forever remain imprinted in our minds. He should have gotten an Oscar just for that alone.
I think that for the viewer, a cyberpunk setting is one in which you make yourself voluntarily lonely. Like you say, it's a setting where the war for a proper existence and humanising structures and behaviours is over, so the viewer voluntarily isolates itself. In effect, futility is accepted and there is a melancholic peace to it. But also on a more simple (and less depressive) level, sometimes being surrounded by sensation is oddly peaceful as they drown each other in a sea of light and sound. Because most of us are very far from the serenity of the countryside, a "white noise" silence from so much light and sound in an imposing city is the closest we can be to peace.
That's well said. I feel fortunate enough to have access to nature where I walk and walk for weeks without seeing any signs of Mankind. For example, my body has done work all day walking. I'm physical spent, however. My mind is clear as mountain water. Before the sun sets, I know mosquitoes will engulf me, thus I get to bed. No artificial light, no worries or thoughts. It's not a choice, just my circumstances. My body rest in this routine whether I want to or not. When I wake up, I do so because the sun rises on the horizon. I'm not chased by external obligations. There's no clock that hounds me some days, but goes out of rythm on other days. Everything is as it should be - in tune. The morning is wonderful, but still a subtle thing. It's as if I'm meditating this routine, without actively meditating. As a result my existence is centered. I feel it's similar to parachuting, in that your circumstances forces your mind to be where you physically are. You can't afford to drift your mind off into Narnia, but stay focused on the next 12 000 feet down to earth or not being eaten alive by blood suckers.
Similarly in Cloud Atlas, we get the brief phrase "And what is ocean but a multitude of drops?" What is small, what is a moment, what is commonplace is not insignificant. Only a part of a greater whole. Beautiful video as always.
2:36 Captures very well my feeling yesterday. I was enjoying seeing the stars and thinking of how far they were and how small I was. While my partner wasn't keen because of "existential dread", I found it comforting to know I'm insignificant.
Except you aren't insignificant. There are at least a couple of people who you are important to and so are they to others. We matter. You matter. And in the end, the universe can't observe itself. Only you can.
Good vid, though I'm gonna push back on the idea that "the fight's over, and we lost". It's true in a sense that the unimpeded march of technology and capitalism and the lack of human connection are the new normal in these works, and it can be perversely comforting to an outsider, the same way postapocalyptic stories are appealing because we imagine ourselves free of all modern obligations. But to the characters within those stories, the struggle is often just beginning. They provide us with the actual view from the ground; they are fighting to find the humanity within such crushing, soulless circumstances, fighting to return to something like what we have right now. If you empathize with them at all, there will be a tug-of-war inside you between wanting to resign yourself to failure and wanting to rebel against it with everything you have. This is the key theme of basically all cyberpunk: even if the battle might be lost, the war for mankind continues until the last human on earth remains, and maybe even beyond that.
yes and i also think that the battle doesn't have to be that grand, even a small personal victory to regain something valuable is enough
2 года назад+2
In that sense we can never truly identify with the protagonists of this reality. Not fully. Both you, and nerdwriter are right here. We observe the reality presented to us in the movies with a feeling of longing and relief - imagining we are plucked from our world and put into the new one in an istant. Inhabitants of this imaginery future, presented to us, however face their own struggles, much like we do in our own realities.
This is the sensation I feel from real life cities when visiting them as well. The older, the city, the more I feel it and am fascinated by it. When I visited Athens, Greece for the first time, I've noticed that throughout the city they deliberately have little slivers of glass flooring randomly placed. Below you can see ancient Athenian ruins. Quite the sensation when you're shopping at an international chain clothing store.
"Meaning is found in real engagements with others which serve a real purpose that serves the evolution of the world." _Greater Community Spirituality » Chapter 8: Who is Wisdom meant for?_
cyberpunk is empowering as well because there's always hope in those worlds, technology is usually the downfall, but still an unfailing source of hope. They're also grounded fantasy, a plausible future, but one that's usually entirely new to our minds. It's exciting. The protagonists are relatable and all of the characters have major flaws. It's refreshing, but not too dark.
My friend wrote her thesis on Activism Fatigue and, oh boy can it be relieving, paradoxically, to dream of finally losing and ending the exhausting uphill battle that is resistance against capitalism. The burnout in itself becomes a parallel struggle. However, Cyberpunk also reminds us that we can't really afford to give up, no matter how comfortable ending the struggle might seem. I can't wait to get my hands on the book and review it! Thank you Evan for provoking thought!
dont worry, capitalism will be over soon. not by the hand of the people obviously but your struggles will cease to exist anyway. only the elite will have free will and the masses like you and your family will be nothing but mere numbers in a cast system ruled by corrupt global corporations and one world government. welcome to neo-communism my friend. you will own nothing and will be happy :) hope your fight will have been worth it.
Where do you live? I'm sure it's Wenezuela, Cuba or China, where you don't have problems with capitalism, and so you can advertise such a systemic solution with clear consciousness.
I feel the same way whenever I go on a backpacking trip with my buddies and it’s just you and the vastness of the forest. Once everyone’s asleep, I always look up at the sky and realize how insignificant I am. Last time, I was overwhelmed so much, that I actually began to cry. Not because I was scared or anything like that but because like you said, there is a sense of calm in knowing that all of this, even you, is so insignificant.
I want to thank you so much for doing this video. Over the last two years (and it's been worse lately) I've been feeling like I've been going through an existential crisis of sorts. I've been trying to figure out those big questions of what's my purpose and what does it all mean. My depression and anxiety over these feelings and thoughts have really been consuming. Two weeks ago I went on a beach vacation with my family and one night I was sitting on the beach and stargazing. There were so many stars and the ocean was just a large dark void that went on forever. It made me feel so insignificant but in the most beautiful way. It made me realize that in the scheme of the universe, my problems are so small and insignificant. None of it really matters. And there was something so comforting in that. When I watched this video, I cried. It was nice to hear that someone else had similar thoughts and feelings. Thank you.
You have just perfectly articulated how I have felt about science fiction for thirty years. Surrender. This video is really uncanny to me. I love your stuff, but this one speaks to me very personally. Looking forward to buying the book
Is it really surrender or just a over encompassing futility in trying to change or resist? It already is the the way it is, and that's just how it will stay.
I had to come back here and comment because I am reading your book, specifically this essay. When you talk about the night sky and how small you feel but that blissful surrender... I would often lay on my bed and think about this when I was a kid and surrender to that feeling. It's been a very long time since then and I had forgotten how comforting it was. I needed to be reminded and I wanted to thank you. (I'm also super glad I saved this vid for after reading!)
Roy's monologue is so powerful in such a personal way. It reminds me of my own humanity, delicate but real, often when I need it the most. This is probably my favorite corner in the immense world of film. I can't wait to read your book and see this world the way you do.
The writing in this was phenomenal. I’ve been watching your videos since 2017 and your way with words have only gotten better. You inspire me. I’m buying your book immediately.
best monologue ever, especially given the acting and the context (and the music). The moment is essentially Roy denying his programming and claiming his humanity.
You write in a way that I've aspired to for a long time. Have preordered, both because I love this channel, and because I hope reading your work will help me shape my own!
A little while ago I saw a young athletic woman wearing yoga pants (with her phone a lump in the specialized pocket) and a skintight top with a Brazilian jiu-jitsu logo, talking via earbuds to someone while using a hoverboard and wearing a powered facemask. I realised she could have come straight out of a cyberpunk book of the 80's.
I received my copy of Escape into Meaning on Monday and already finished it (today is Wednesday). It was so enjoyable, I just kept reading until the end. This essay, the Comforts of Cyperpunk, was a highlight, and I'm excited to share it with friends and fam because the concepts discussed will provoke some interesting conversations. Congratulations Mr. Nerdwriter, you've hit the dream balance of entertaining/enjoyable writing style and thoughtful analysis!
The soundtrack seals that feeling for me The ambient music swallows us up and feels like a release. Like you’re at a spa with that 432 Hz type music and suddenly you just give in to your surroundings. It helps show the acceptance you talk about in the blade runner reality
Man, i kid you not, i was thinking about Helvetica this whole day. And now when i get home, i press play on a nerdwriter video and what do i see? Exactly.
Cyberpunk always kinda scared me as a genre. There is serenity and peace in the surrender but I don’t wish for surrender. I don’t wish to see capitalism ravage what’s left that hasn’t been ravaged by it yet. For consumerism and commercialism to take any and all. I wish for a brighter future
I pre-ordered the book. Thank you for bringing me such joy with your thoughtful videos over these past years. They have turned into a sort of coffee with an old friend moment for me. It's hard to find friends or people that share these types of interest so thank you.
Much excite!!! Pre-ordered the book as soon as it was available. I’m a voice actor and I can’t say how much more excited I am that YOU read this for Audible. So happy for you, what an amazing line of demarcation in your life. Well done. 🥰
As years go by as someone who been subscribing to the genre of cyberpunk, we seem to really love this genre especially during nighttime because it feels like a different world, like moonside from earthbound, even people's mentality change out at night. Also our exposure to materials give slight expectations some revalanting event might happen tonight that puts yourself at center stage. And when the sun comes up, its a whole new world and you switch up with a new outlook. I enjoy the original Blade Runner ending and Gungrave game ending as years go by
Oh, maybe the real beauty of a such uplifting moments stands on strong understanding - everything could be a simulacrum so we have the one path of humility
more so than the content of your writing, the form in which it is presented comforts me. Will you release a self voiced audio book version of your book? That would be wonderful.
Roy Batty's speech is memorable and definitely one of my all time favorites. It pretty much sums up how insignificant we are to the vast time and space that we live in. Just like the lyrics of Linkin Park's probably most famous song: "but in the end, it doesn't even matter".
Blade Runner is my favorite film. The most perfect imperfect film ever made. Cyberpunk 2020 is my favorite cyberpunk tabletop role-playing game. I can still remember seeing it on the shelf for the first time. That black box with its evocative cover. But there was a sequel to it, Cybergeneration. It involves the children of those that gave up to the cyberpunk dystopia. And those children are angry. They are fighting back. And the AIs are lending them 'support'...
Really nice video about thoses emotions we all kind of experienced or will some time in our lives, this bladerunner monologue is really powerful when you start thinking about our place in the vast universe or maybe just our place in our city
I'm preparing a book about cyberpunk. This wonderful, insightful musing has provided me with new perspectives and guidance. Nerdwriter1 is, quite simply, one of the best general cultural channels on RUclips. As a fellow writer I can only admire you.
Dystopia is the antithesis of hope. When I see the United Federation of Planets, a post-scarcity society which has devoted itself to humanitarianism and the humanities and peace, I feed the hope inside of me even if I am otherwise feeling despair. Perhaps we can see ourselves to a better future if we can believe. The problem is that this often feels naive. When I see the world of Blade Runner 2049, a world in which the planet's biosphere is essentially gone, in which housing shortages have resulted in massive and likely corporate apartment structures, vague allusions to wars over resources in space, inondations with advertisements every moment, and entertainment to numb the pain, it feeds hope's opposite: pessimistic despair. This feels anything but naive. It feels responsible. But under that feeling is the surrender which, multiplied across the world, means this is inevitable. I adore Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049, they're works of art, but maybe we don't need to overfeed our greedy pessimistic despair. The world does that enough. In the end of Blade Runner 2049, a good man is reunited with his miracle daughter against all odds. Revolution by an underclass is on the horizon. It may be that the children of men make a better world. Basically, I hope they make Blade Runner 3 and it ends with the promise of utopia.
I don't like cyberpunk very much nowadays because I like science-fiction for its escapism, and now cyberpunk is less science fiction and more a documentary on what is really happening today, just with more neons and a synthwave soundtrack. And less catastrophic weather.
When I watched Blade Runner the first time, I could not bear this movie. Everything turned around when I heard this speech from Rutger Hauer. Don't know where he pulled that one from, but it was the perfect moment in movie history.
I believe the neon nightmare and claustrophobic Cyberpunk world, ad's vying for our attention and everything from vices to consumerism catered to, it hits home the importance of the human condition. That feeling of connection with someone in the messy hell that is a city drowned in corporations and nihilism. The feeling of being free from the struggle but also free to see people and their real motivations. The pure connection one has with either a choom or their significant other. If anything I see Cyberpunk worlds as a story of the human condition. That even though others may call the shots we are still in control of our own lives and that is enough to put me at ease. Also it's odd because it's about loving a world that actively hates you.
Well said. Looking at the starfilled night sky as a kid evoked this "unique" feeling of happiness and melancholy. Feeling the grandness of the universe and my insignificance in all of it. Smiling with a heartache. I think that is the beauty of Blade Runner and Cyberpunk.
Haven't read or watched any cyberpunk, but I have listened to Ulysses Dies at Dawn by the Mechanisms- definitely recommend, it's a cyberpunk retelling of Greek myth, all set to jazz and folk music.
For me, Blade Runner is what the world already looks like from a spiritual point of view. The illusion of our world's appearance is stripped away. We're shown the ugly truth, yet within that truth is still a certain beauty: hope lying at the bottom of Pandora's box. And so we're immersed in reality's great undercurrent of sorrow, but at the same time we're shown beautiful things like points of light in darkness, chief among them love.
This is rather timely because I just discovered and listened to neuromancer last week. I'm still confused how I had never heard of William Gibson before then. I saw Blade Runner when I was 13. I spent half of the viewing in the theater picking my JAW up off of my lap just astonished by the site's sounds storyline et cetera. It's been my favorite movie for 40 years now.
Remember it wasnt an experience for humans to lose those moments in time it was the replicants facing the pre ordained existential crisis of having a 4 year life span with no childhood memories but only recently experienced ones. replicants didnt live forever ... but then again who does ?
this is so true, but why do you need to look to the stars? try to imagine what the driver parked next to you at the stop light is thinking, and realize how insignificant you are to them
The Greeks had a way of believing that no one lived after death, except in their legacy, carried upon by the words and memories of others. Cyberpunk has that too. In a world where everything is profane and nothing is divine, nothing is worth saving or keeping, even your most precious ones, because you'll lose it anyway, or it'll break, or it will be taken or become useless. So it's all or nothing, penny for a pound, all in, now or never, do or die, all the time, cradly to grave. We do this not to live long but to prosper, and we prosper when people remember our name after our bodies are gone. And maybe name a drink after you at the Afterlife.
and yet we are not insignificant ; we are all a part of the greater consciousness experiencing itself ; every thought in our minds is as true in physical reality as anything else is
BOOK FAQS:
*Will the book be sold internationally?* Yes, Escape Into Meaning should available for shipping to most places around the world where English-language books are sold. Amazon is your best bet, but local retailers can also order books from abroad (may just take a bit longer). I don’t have a full list of where it’s available, and I don’t control this in any way, so I’m sorry if you can’t get the hardcover where you live.
*Will the book be translated into other languages?* Escape Into Meaning is only available in English for now. Translated versions usually don’t happen unless there are significant sales. If this book gets translated, that means something went really right, but we won’t know that for some time. If there are going to be translations, I will let you know as soon as I do.
*Is there an audiobook, and do you read it?* Yes, there is an audiobook, and yes I read it (which was such a thrill to do). It is available on Audible here: adbl.co/3birfo9 And it’s also available from other platforms, all of which you can find at the Simon & Schuster master link: bit.ly/3cGnr0f
*Will you be doing live events for Escape Into Meaning?* Yes! I will be doing 2 in-person events. One at The Strand in NYC. Tickets here: bit.ly/3OOAOJf And I will be doing another at The Grove Barnes & Noble in Los Angeles. Tickets here: bit.ly/3cSjPIG
These will be the only live events I’ll be doing. I’m sorry if you don’t live near these cities - but I will be doing a livestream event that will be available for everyone. When I have the link and details for that, I will share it with you.
I will update this as more questions come in. Thanks!
Sorry to plug, but I made a trailer for Neuromancer on my channel. Hope yall like it!
Is the Audible audiobook being released in other regions, such as the UK?
Also a big plus to cyberpunk dystopia is the synth sounds and music. Like nostalgia, melancholy, loneliness all in one!
Blade Runner would be much less than people think without it's music
@@nicktrousers I feel like blade runner’s score is so under appreciated. It was so difficult for me to find a vinyl of the score that actually stayed true to the one in the film because of drama behind the scenes.
So true!!
@@nicktrousers That’s one of the things I dislike about 2049. Love the film. Hate that they didn’t get Vangelis to do the music
@@afonsolucas2219 the film was trash. you know how i know? ive only seen it once and i already forgot it
For me cyberpunk is a product of the 80s and is very much tied to the sense of trying to find a place in a world where the bad guys have won.
It's definitely a product of the 80s. Reaganomics, War On Drugs, Laissez Faire Capitalism, and... most importantly, the Gaming Crash in the U.S. followed by the massive technological boom of Japan.
Best line ever: “It’s too bad she won’t live, but then again who does.” Similar nuanced meaning to the biography about Jim Morrison entitled “No One Here Gets Out Alive”.
To me I see it as a continuation of Roy Batty's line. We kind of all just merge into nothingness after death. Our physical being was alive at some point the materialness of us means nothing now. We might as well have been some dog in the street.
Bladerunner's main theme is about honoring life but cyberpunk worlds its just endless resource harvesting and consuming.
To me it was just another insinuation that Gaff knows Deckard is a replicant.
"I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive." - Hank Williams
I thought I was the only one that thought cyberpunk is cozy
!! This really articulates why I love big neon-soaked megalopolises. I loved strolling around Shanghai at night. The skyscrapers and the lights and the enormous crowds made me feel insignificant, and for once I could just enjoy the moment, I could exist outside of my worries for the future and anxieties of the past. I simply exist, just a transient speck of the vast human existence, passing each other without a thought, here today, gone tomorrow.
Thank you for this video.
You have perfectly encapsulated this feeling I've held for this genre but never could put into words.
I came here to write my reaction, and you captured it perfectly.
I'm a bit confused by the traces of the romantic Sublime here, applied on the one hand to interstellar Nature (disappearing into the enormity of the universe) but on the other into hyper-Culture, the late-capitalist city. Part of what is NOT supposed to be comforting about cyberpunk is that it is all the more transparently about our present-- it's a future in which little is futuristic, things are falling apart, there is a slow cascade into apocalypse. To feel comforted by any sequence in Blade Runner, you have to forget that the replicants are future slaves. Exploitation and domination have continued as the ways of future men and machines. Nope, no comfort there, thanks.
@@SuperRobertoClemente I don't think people subconsciously forget that the people in Blade Runner live mostly terrible lives. We might get lost in the ethereal soundtrack and cinematography of a neon metropolis, but other than for 'simple' escapism I never hear people say they wish to live in that world. That it's realistic, but far away (sort of, I hope) makes it comforting. Add that we find commonality in people like Deckard & Rachel, dealing with the same struggles as us, and we have a perfect few hours of dreaming. Do you just not find cyberpunk comforting, or are we not looking into the movie(s) deep enough? What emotions does Blade Runner evoke for you?
@@joegolike Same here : )
Exactly I have always felt drawn to a cyberpunk world. maybe it’s the neon? Maybe it’s the feeling of getting lost looking at the vast city scape? Maybe it’s the incomprehensible technology that does wonders not only for the eye but the brain? Or maybe it’s the feeling of being involved in a world we lust for but won’t get to see. But anyways yeah I’ve always felt a cosy and warmth towards this genre that I could never describe and your right he’s just gone and done it
This little video hit me harder than a lot of things in recent memory. "The fight's over, and we lost." It's a sublime mix of despair and hope; there's no need to struggle anymore.
I want to explore a world where the struggle isn't over, even if "we've" lost. Something like the recovery from the fallout, or maybe the (attempted) aversion of the true, final fallout just before it's due.
The speech could seem trite but with Rutger Hauer's delivery and expressions sort of being perfect it gets elevated to something we still mention today.
And the fact that it wasn’t scripted makes it all the more precious.
@@hRt42kuo7jTtmk14 it still seems wild to me that someone could improvise that. Shoulda given him a writer's credit.
@@JohnGottschalk indeed. 100%. I think Ridley was probably tripping over himself when Rutger simply came out with that in total perfection. And then “Too bad she won’t live, but then again who does” encapsulates the whole essence of that moment and life itself bringing closure and acceptance to everything, both mortal and immortal.
@@hRt42kuo7jTtmk14 Rutger said he had something he wanted to do. As improvisation. They were over schedule and didn’t have much time. He had to convince Ridley for one more take. He said fine. He gave the speech, tenderly and with passion. It was a perfect moment. Beautiful.
Then Ridley said: Cut! Ok next one, move on!
It’s one of those things, you trust the people around you. You trust their talent and their vision of things to contribute to your own. But I find funny how at the time he just wanted to shoot the movie. I imagine his face in the editing room now realizing what he had. All the joy lacking in filming comes to you in the editing room.
Not only the fact that Rutger wrote that, but the way in which he delivered it created an indelible moment that will forever remain imprinted in our minds. He should have gotten an Oscar just for that alone.
I think that for the viewer, a cyberpunk setting is one in which you make yourself voluntarily lonely. Like you say, it's a setting where the war for a proper existence and humanising structures and behaviours is over, so the viewer voluntarily isolates itself. In effect, futility is accepted and there is a melancholic peace to it. But also on a more simple (and less depressive) level, sometimes being surrounded by sensation is oddly peaceful as they drown each other in a sea of light and sound. Because most of us are very far from the serenity of the countryside, a "white noise" silence from so much light and sound in an imposing city is the closest we can be to peace.
That's well said. I feel fortunate enough to have access to nature where I walk and walk for weeks without seeing any signs of Mankind.
For example, my body has done work all day walking. I'm physical spent, however. My mind is clear as mountain water. Before the sun sets, I know mosquitoes will engulf me, thus I get to bed. No artificial light, no worries or thoughts. It's not a choice, just my circumstances. My body rest in this routine whether I want to or not. When I wake up, I do so because the sun rises on the horizon. I'm not chased by external obligations. There's no clock that hounds me some days, but goes out of rythm on other days. Everything is as it should be - in tune. The morning is wonderful, but still a subtle thing. It's as if I'm meditating this routine, without actively meditating. As a result my existence is centered.
I feel it's similar to parachuting, in that your circumstances forces your mind to be where you physically are. You can't afford to drift your mind off into Narnia, but stay focused on the next 12 000 feet down to earth or not being eaten alive by blood suckers.
Similarly in Cloud Atlas, we get the brief phrase "And what is ocean but a multitude of drops?" What is small, what is a moment, what is commonplace is not insignificant. Only a part of a greater whole. Beautiful video as always.
this movie - this line - gets me every time. I don't think there is a movie i have watched as many times as Cloud Atlas.
"We are the cosmos dreaming of itself."
2:36 Captures very well my feeling yesterday. I was enjoying seeing the stars and thinking of how far they were and how small I was. While my partner wasn't keen because of "existential dread", I found it comforting to know I'm insignificant.
Omg I just made a comment about myself going through this exact same thing.
Except you aren't insignificant. There are at least a couple of people who you are important to and so are they to others. We matter. You matter. And in the end, the universe can't observe itself. Only you can.
That closing line about "...the downpour of time." is pure art. Brilliant like your aforementioned stars in this video.
When all hope of meaning and purpose is lost one must look to find meaning in the emptiness itself.
Good vid, though I'm gonna push back on the idea that "the fight's over, and we lost". It's true in a sense that the unimpeded march of technology and capitalism and the lack of human connection are the new normal in these works, and it can be perversely comforting to an outsider, the same way postapocalyptic stories are appealing because we imagine ourselves free of all modern obligations. But to the characters within those stories, the struggle is often just beginning. They provide us with the actual view from the ground; they are fighting to find the humanity within such crushing, soulless circumstances, fighting to return to something like what we have right now. If you empathize with them at all, there will be a tug-of-war inside you between wanting to resign yourself to failure and wanting to rebel against it with everything you have. This is the key theme of basically all cyberpunk: even if the battle might be lost, the war for mankind continues until the last human on earth remains, and maybe even beyond that.
yes and i also think that the battle doesn't have to be that grand, even a small personal victory to regain something valuable is enough
In that sense we can never truly identify with the protagonists of this reality. Not fully. Both you, and nerdwriter are right here. We observe the reality presented to us in the movies with a feeling of longing and relief - imagining we are plucked from our world and put into the new one in an istant. Inhabitants of this imaginery future, presented to us, however face their own struggles, much like we do in our own realities.
Reminds me of altered carbon, fighting for what was and what could be
It's incredible to me how gazing a night sky can make me so calmed, since i remember nothing really matters that much. I wish I could do it more often
This is the sensation I feel from real life cities when visiting them as well. The older, the city, the more I feel it and am fascinated by it. When I visited Athens, Greece for the first time, I've noticed that throughout the city they deliberately have little slivers of glass flooring randomly placed. Below you can see ancient Athenian ruins. Quite the sensation when you're shopping at an international chain clothing store.
"Meaning is found in real engagements with others which serve a real purpose that serves the evolution of the world."
_Greater Community Spirituality » Chapter 8: Who is Wisdom meant for?_
Thanks for this!
cyberpunk is empowering as well because there's always hope in those worlds, technology is usually the downfall, but still an unfailing source of hope. They're also grounded fantasy, a plausible future, but one that's usually entirely new to our minds. It's exciting. The protagonists are relatable and all of the characters have major flaws. It's refreshing, but not too dark.
My friend wrote her thesis on Activism Fatigue and, oh boy can it be relieving, paradoxically, to dream of finally losing and ending the exhausting uphill battle that is resistance against capitalism. The burnout in itself becomes a parallel struggle. However, Cyberpunk also reminds us that we can't really afford to give up, no matter how comfortable ending the struggle might seem.
I can't wait to get my hands on the book and review it!
Thank you Evan for provoking thought!
dont worry, capitalism will be over soon. not by the hand of the people obviously but your struggles will cease to exist anyway. only the elite will have free will and the masses like you and your family will be nothing but mere numbers in a cast system ruled by corrupt global corporations and one world government. welcome to neo-communism my friend. you will own nothing and will be happy :) hope your fight will have been worth it.
Where do you live? I'm sure it's Wenezuela, Cuba or China, where you don't have problems with capitalism, and so you can advertise such a systemic solution with clear consciousness.
I guess you can sum up cyberpunk’s appeal as “the future may be shit, polluted and run by megacorporations, but at least it looks cool.”
"the future"
Well at least the future figured out how to look cool
I feel the same way whenever I go on a backpacking trip with my buddies and it’s just you and the vastness of the forest. Once everyone’s asleep, I always look up at the sky and realize how insignificant I am. Last time, I was overwhelmed so much, that I actually began to cry. Not because I was scared or anything like that but because like you said, there is a sense of calm in knowing that all of this, even you, is so insignificant.
I want to thank you so much for doing this video. Over the last two years (and it's been worse lately) I've been feeling like I've been going through an existential crisis of sorts. I've been trying to figure out those big questions of what's my purpose and what does it all mean. My depression and anxiety over these feelings and thoughts have really been consuming.
Two weeks ago I went on a beach vacation with my family and one night I was sitting on the beach and stargazing. There were so many stars and the ocean was just a large dark void that went on forever. It made me feel so insignificant but in the most beautiful way. It made me realize that in the scheme of the universe, my problems are so small and insignificant. None of it really matters. And there was something so comforting in that.
When I watched this video, I cried. It was nice to hear that someone else had similar thoughts and feelings. Thank you.
The monologue at the end of blade runner is one of my favorites. When im feeling really sad i say it out loud and it makes me feel a little better.
Same!
Whilst it is one of my favourite movies the "tears in the rain" and dove bit was too cheesy. Ruined the whole scene for me.
Me too! It lifts up.
Did they make that speech up on the fly or was it actually in the script ?
@@kludgedude Rutger Hauer made it up on the fly.
You have just perfectly articulated how I have felt about science fiction for thirty years. Surrender. This video is really uncanny to me. I love your stuff, but this one speaks to me very personally. Looking forward to buying the book
Is it really surrender or just a over encompassing futility in trying to change or resist? It already is the the way it is, and that's just how it will stay.
I had to come back here and comment because I am reading your book, specifically this essay. When you talk about the night sky and how small you feel but that blissful surrender... I would often lay on my bed and think about this when I was a kid and surrender to that feeling. It's been a very long time since then and I had forgotten how comforting it was. I needed to be reminded and I wanted to thank you. (I'm also super glad I saved this vid for after reading!)
Roy's monologue is so powerful in such a personal way. It reminds me of my own humanity, delicate but real, often when I need it the most. This is probably my favorite corner in the immense world of film. I can't wait to read your book and see this world the way you do.
The writing in this was phenomenal. I’ve been watching your videos since 2017 and your way with words have only gotten better. You inspire me. I’m buying your book immediately.
best monologue ever, especially given the acting and the context (and the music). The moment is essentially Roy denying his programming and claiming his humanity.
Cyberpunk is THE genre for our contemporary age
❤️❤️❤️ my favorite topic with my favorite genre let's go!!
You write in a way that I've aspired to for a long time. Have preordered, both because I love this channel, and because I hope reading your work will help me shape my own!
A little while ago I saw a young athletic woman wearing yoga pants (with her phone a lump in the specialized pocket) and a skintight top with a Brazilian jiu-jitsu logo, talking via earbuds to someone while using a hoverboard and wearing a powered facemask.
I realised she could have come straight out of a cyberpunk book of the 80's.
I received my copy of Escape into Meaning on Monday and already finished it (today is Wednesday). It was so enjoyable, I just kept reading until the end. This essay, the Comforts of Cyperpunk, was a highlight, and I'm excited to share it with friends and fam because the concepts discussed will provoke some interesting conversations. Congratulations Mr. Nerdwriter, you've hit the dream balance of entertaining/enjoyable writing style and thoughtful analysis!
Last few weeks I've been pondering why I'm so obsessed with cyberpunk, and this sheds an interesting perspective.
Great timing. I've been binging videos the Bladerunner and it's sequel the whole week.
Life is plague by uncertainty. Cyberpunk is comforting to me because it gives me the aftermath of it.
The soundtrack seals that feeling for me The ambient music swallows us up and feels like a release. Like you’re at a spa with that 432 Hz type music and suddenly you just give in to your surroundings. It helps show the acceptance you talk about in the blade runner reality
Play Cloudpunk people! It has such an awesome atmosphere!
Man, i kid you not, i was thinking about Helvetica this whole day. And now when i get home, i press play on a nerdwriter video and what do i see? Exactly.
Cyberpunk always kinda scared me as a genre. There is serenity and peace in the surrender but I don’t wish for surrender. I don’t wish to see capitalism ravage what’s left that hasn’t been ravaged by it yet. For consumerism and commercialism to take any and all. I wish for a brighter future
Cyberpunk is the cinematic visual manifestation of what vaporwave evokes in the listener before vaporwave was even a thing imo
I pre-ordered the book. Thank you for bringing me such joy with your thoughtful videos over these past years. They have turned into a sort of coffee with an old friend moment for me. It's hard to find friends or people that share these types of interest so thank you.
Coffee with an old friend, perfectly encapsulated.
Much excite!!! Pre-ordered the book as soon as it was available. I’m a voice actor and I can’t say how much more excited I am that YOU read this for Audible.
So happy for you, what an amazing line of demarcation in your life. Well done. 🥰
As years go by as someone who been subscribing to the genre of cyberpunk, we seem to really love this genre especially during nighttime because it feels like a different world, like moonside from earthbound, even people's mentality change out at night. Also our exposure to materials give slight expectations some revalanting event might happen tonight that puts yourself at center stage. And when the sun comes up, its a whole new world and you switch up with a new outlook. I enjoy the original Blade Runner ending and Gungrave game ending as years go by
The Tears in rain scene still gets my heart racing when I watch. It's haunting, tragic and beautiful at the same time.
Oh, maybe the real beauty of a such uplifting moments stands on strong understanding - everything could be a simulacrum so we have the one path of humility
more so than the content of your writing, the form in which it is presented comforts me. Will you release a self voiced audio book version of your book? That would be wonderful.
He should! His voice is very soothing and evocative.
That "tears in the rain" speech was 100% AD-LIBBED. It was never written. That fact never fails to blow me away!!!
Roy Batty's speech is memorable and definitely one of my all time favorites.
It pretty much sums up how insignificant we are to the vast time and space that we live in.
Just like the lyrics of Linkin Park's probably most famous song: "but in the end, it doesn't even matter".
Blade Runner is my favorite film. The most perfect imperfect film ever made. Cyberpunk 2020 is my favorite cyberpunk tabletop role-playing game. I can still remember seeing it on the shelf for the first time. That black box with its evocative cover. But there was a sequel to it, Cybergeneration. It involves the children of those that gave up to the cyberpunk dystopia. And those children are angry. They are fighting back. And the AIs are lending them 'support'...
Really nice video about thoses emotions we all kind of experienced or will some time in our lives, this bladerunner monologue is really powerful when you start thinking about our place in the vast universe or maybe just our place in our city
The fact that Roy Batty edited the script and added his own words at the end of Blade Runner improvising that memorable line was amazing.
RIP Rutger Hauer btw. What a legend.
I've always found comfort in those neon cyberpunk scenes too but could never articulate why until now
I'm preparing a book about cyberpunk. This wonderful, insightful musing has provided me with new perspectives and guidance. Nerdwriter1 is, quite simply, one of the best general cultural channels on RUclips. As a fellow writer I can only admire you.
I enjoyed Blade Runner and the sequel too. Fun stuff.
Dystopia is the antithesis of hope.
When I see the United Federation of Planets, a post-scarcity society which has devoted itself to humanitarianism and the humanities and peace, I feed the hope inside of me even if I am otherwise feeling despair. Perhaps we can see ourselves to a better future if we can believe. The problem is that this often feels naive.
When I see the world of Blade Runner 2049, a world in which the planet's biosphere is essentially gone, in which housing shortages have resulted in massive and likely corporate apartment structures, vague allusions to wars over resources in space, inondations with advertisements every moment, and entertainment to numb the pain, it feeds hope's opposite: pessimistic despair. This feels anything but naive. It feels responsible. But under that feeling is the surrender which, multiplied across the world, means this is inevitable.
I adore Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049, they're works of art, but maybe we don't need to overfeed our greedy pessimistic despair. The world does that enough. In the end of Blade Runner 2049, a good man is reunited with his miracle daughter against all odds. Revolution by an underclass is on the horizon. It may be that the children of men make a better world.
Basically, I hope they make Blade Runner 3 and it ends with the promise of utopia.
I don't like cyberpunk very much nowadays because I like science-fiction for its escapism, and now cyberpunk is less science fiction and more a documentary on what is really happening today, just with more neons and a synthwave soundtrack. And less catastrophic weather.
"Nothing makes me feel smaller than imagining the space between galaxies." Perfect... thats describe what I feel too!
Finally a video that is not about a painting
I never feel more kindred with a RUclipsr than I do with you, when you talk about Bladerunner. I think it hit us on the same level.
When I watched Blade Runner the first time, I could not bear this movie. Everything turned around when I heard this speech from Rutger Hauer. Don't know where he pulled that one from, but it was the perfect moment in movie history.
What could have been if Villeneuve and Vangelis did Bladerunner
I believe the neon nightmare and claustrophobic Cyberpunk world, ad's vying for our attention and everything from vices to consumerism catered to, it hits home the importance of the human condition. That feeling of connection with someone in the messy hell that is a city drowned in corporations and nihilism. The feeling of being free from the struggle but also free to see people and their real motivations. The pure connection one has with either a choom or their significant other. If anything I see Cyberpunk worlds as a story of the human condition. That even though others may call the shots we are still in control of our own lives and that is enough to put me at ease. Also it's odd because it's about loving a world that actively hates you.
Well made and beautiful video!!!! Keep up the great work!!!!
Well said.
Looking at the starfilled night sky as a kid evoked this "unique" feeling of happiness and melancholy. Feeling the grandness of the universe and my insignificance in all of it. Smiling with a heartache.
I think that is the beauty of Blade Runner and Cyberpunk.
Didn’t know about your book before this video, but instantly pre-ordered. Looking forward to it, man.
This video is *chef's kiss* ❤️ keep up the good work, nerdwriterman
Sublime. Really looking forward to reading this book.
Yo this one was a really great one to watch bro. All the best
Brilliant, preordered your book about 15 seconds after this video ended.
Haven't read or watched any cyberpunk, but I have listened to Ulysses Dies at Dawn by the Mechanisms- definitely recommend, it's a cyberpunk retelling of Greek myth, all set to jazz and folk music.
the coldest, wettest, and dankest places feel somehow super comfy
Perfectly summed up what makes cyberpunk so special. Amazing video as always 👍👍
Lost in time and space a fleeting moment of insignificance
Whoaaa, three minutes and a whole new perspective unfolds. Thank you, I'm going to order your book now.
For me, Blade Runner is what the world already looks like from a spiritual point of view. The illusion of our world's appearance is stripped away. We're shown the ugly truth, yet within that truth is still a certain beauty: hope lying at the bottom of Pandora's box. And so we're immersed in reality's great undercurrent of sorrow, but at the same time we're shown beautiful things like points of light in darkness, chief among them love.
A NEW VIDEO! I love everything you’ve ever put out. Thank you for doing what you do!
This is rather timely because I just discovered and listened to neuromancer last week. I'm still confused how I had never heard of William Gibson before then. I saw Blade Runner when I was 13. I spent half of the viewing in the theater picking my JAW up off of my lap just astonished by the site's sounds storyline et cetera. It's been my favorite movie for 40 years now.
So well said!
Remember it wasnt an experience for humans to lose those moments in time it was the replicants facing the pre ordained existential crisis of having a 4 year life span with no childhood memories but only recently experienced ones. replicants didnt live forever ... but then again who does ?
this is so true, but why do you need to look to the stars? try to imagine what the driver parked next to you at the stop light is thinking, and realize how insignificant you are to them
I love it, but I really dig the Opposite of cyberpunk, solarpunk. Where we won instead of lost
The Greeks had a way of believing that no one lived after death, except in their legacy, carried upon by the words and memories of others. Cyberpunk has that too. In a world where everything is profane and nothing is divine, nothing is worth saving or keeping, even your most precious ones, because you'll lose it anyway, or it'll break, or it will be taken or become useless. So it's all or nothing, penny for a pound, all in, now or never, do or die, all the time, cradly to grave. We do this not to live long but to prosper, and we prosper when people remember our name after our bodies are gone. And maybe name a drink after you at the Afterlife.
To be frank, we kinda live in a cyberpunk world nowadays
Enjoy your life to the fullest take no problems to heart cause in the end we are insignificant nothing really matters
This video came right on time for me!
the ending of The Fountain where is is obliterated into the nebula was to me a spiritual cyberpunk comfort of awestruck space and nothingness.
and yet we are not insignificant ; we are all a part of the greater consciousness experiencing itself ; every thought in our minds is as true in physical reality as anything else is
Blade Runner had a profound effect on me and still does to this day. Roy's words are still my favorite of all time.
Fantastic excerpt from your book!
Reject Government, Accept Corporations. Cyberpunk is a reality we should all embrace.
Someone missed the entire point... or is trolling. Im too autistic to tell.
ONENESS IS A BASICALLY A LACK OF AWARENESS. WE'RE ALL UNIQUE, DIFFERENT AND SEPARATE.
As usual, so extremely well said!
And Rutger Hauer wrote that speech. Being in the moment at the end of days.
I wish this was longer
Wow this is so true
Sorry I can't be more profound but those visuals were an amazing accompaniment
I remember the Night Rider, when I look up at the night sky.